PORT KLANG, April 5 — Port Klang is expected to play a vital role in Malaysia’s external trade and its economic development, said Port Klang Authority (PKA) General Manager, Captain K. Subramaniam.
Subramaniam said the port has trade connections with over 120 countries and dealings with over 500 ports worldwide.
“Its ideal location makes it an important port of call for ships plying in both directions on the Far East-Europe trade route,” he told Bernama.
The PKA said Port Klang was now one of the top container ports in the world.
It handled 13.2 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2016, up 10.8 per cent compared with 2015, it said.
It said the throughput was expected to reach 16.3 million by 2020 which would be close to maximum capacity.
“As a result, the Malaysian government is developing a port city to be located close to Port Klang on Carey Island,” it said.
Port Klang handled 13.2 million TEUs, of which domestic traffic accounted for 4.102 TEUs (31.15 per cent) and transhipment amounted to 9.07 million TEUs (68.85 per cent), it said.
It said the two terminals — Norrthport and Westport — between them have a container throughput of 3.224 million TEUs and 9.946 million TEUs respectively.
According to Subramaniam, there were some 16,500 ship calls at the port.
“We were ranked as the world’s No. 12 largest port in 2015 but we have moved to number 11. We can accommodate the new generation mega ships operated by COSCO, Maersk, etc. In all, we have some 35 lines calling here,” she said.
Subramaniam said the port has capacity of up to 17.6 million TEUs.
“We reached some 13.17 million TEUs in 2016. We are adding another four million TEU capacity which should be completed by 2019,” he said.
He said the current year could possibly be a “turbulent year”, possibly a result of the consolidation process and like to impact the port traffic.
Meanwhile, PKA said, the plan to plan to develop and build a new terminal on the nearby island of Pulau Carey would also include a port that would be able to handle 30 million TEUs annually.
This has become necessary because Port Klang has become congested and has reached maximum capacity, it said. — Bernama
